The firm of C.A. Wunderlich was
established according to advertisement (see below) in
1854, and flourished in Siebenbrunn, Vogtland until
about 1966. According to Dr. Enrico Weller it was
established by Carl August Wunderlich (1826 - 1911)
who was a skilled brass instrument maker.1
The family had also been long active as guitar and
other string instrument makers. In 1909 it advertised
as "factory for brass instruments and string, dealers
in all musical instruments." Later it ceased
manufacturing and went to "Herstellung in Heimat"
(home-worker production), assuring its customers that
that its products were not mediocre machine-made
instruments, but rather they were hand-made by local
artisans, although their names were never stated (see
"Weltmeister" advertising, below). By the early
twentieth century it became a very large dealer
offering woodwind, brass, percussion, string
instruments by catalog. Its patents included a metal
bassoon and the "Normaphon" (a trumpet shaped
like a tenor saxophone).

Zeitschrift
für Instrumentenbau, October 1, 1930

The label on the bell (right) identifies
this horn as part of the trademarked "Weltmeister"
("World Champion") line from C.A. Wunderlich (see
catalog description, below). The label also
shows two patent references. Deutsches
Reichspatent (D.R.P.) 368379 issued to
Julius Heubach2 on June 18, 1921. Heubach's patent
was for an improvement to brass instruments to
compensate for the fact that when valves are used in
combination the resulting pitch will be sharp (see
details, below). The second reference is to Deutsches
Reichsgebrauchsmuster (D.R.G.M.) number 1137060,
registered by C.A. Wunderlich in 1930.
This gave Wunderlich basic copyright protection to
market the horn for three years. Neither the design by
Heubach nor the horn marketed by C.A. Wunderlich in
1930 was identical to the subject horn, although the
principle is the same. According to Heyde (1987, p.
100) the design seen on this horn is due to Peter
Hirsbrunner, Sumiswald, 1968, although this patent was
derivitive of earlier designs3. (See detailed description of the
design of the subject horn, below, and compare it with
the Heubach patent.)

C.A. Wunderlich Catalog, ca. 1930

As mentioned above, this horn corrects the
problem commonly found on other valved brass instruments
that causes the pitch of notes played with two or three
valves to be sharp. This occurs because the valve slides
are proportionate to the total length of the horn. For
example the third valve slide is the proper length to
lower the pitch of the open horn by 1½ steps
(three semi-tones); the second valve lowers the open
horn by one semi-tone, so the two valves in combination
should lower the open horn by four semi-tones. With the
added length of the third valve, however, the second
valve is too short to lower the pitch a full semi-tone
and the result is sharp. Similarly the combination of
first and third valves or all three together is sharp
for the same reason. Julius Heubach solved the problem
with two additional "correction" valves that are
automatically opened when the third valve is pressed,
adding length to the first and second valves. This
is accomplished with a complex series of arms linked to
the third valve rotor (see patent diagram, below right)
and was implemented on the horn originally marketed by
C.A. Wunderlich, ca. 1930 (see catalog entry, below
left).

C.A. Wunderlich catalog, ca. 1930

Drawing for Heubach Patent, June 18,
1921

The present horn eliminates the secondary
"correction" valves and levers by ingeniously routing
the third valve slide to a second row of valve ports,
similar to the valves on a double horn. As seen from the
player's side in the photo at right, the "correction"
valve slides are visible on the lower level of the first
and second valve rotors. Superimposed is a diagram (red)
showing the air path when the second and third valves
are pressed. Following the air path in this
example starting from the top of the valve section, the
second valve is opened to its primary (longer) slide in
the usual way. The path then continues through the third
valve into its slide. Instead of returning directly to
the third valve rotor, however, the path returns to the
top of the valve section into the lower rank of the
valve rotors. It then passes through the "correction"
slide of the second valve before being routed out to the
first branch and bell. If the third valve is not pressed
then the path is only through the upper rank of the
valve set in the usual way, and directed into the first
branch through the small loop on the third valve, as
shown in green.

The photo above left shows the valve set from
the front of the horn. Clearly visible is the loop on
the third valve that routes the air path to the first
branch when the valve is not pressed. The unusual rotor
core for the third valve is shown in the photo at right.
It has two sets of ports (upper and lower) similar to a
normal double horn rotors, however they are at right
angles to each other which accomplishes the routing of
the air path to the second level of the valve set.
To the right of the first valve is a fourth half-step
valve operated by the player's thumb valve that is used
when playing "stopped" notes. It has a very
unusual geared linkage which can be quite noisy.

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to Gerard Westerhof for directing me
to the Zeitschrift
für Instrumentenbau citation for D.R.G.M.
1137060 and the files for D.R.P. 368379, and his valuable
assistance in interpreting them. Thanks too, to Peter
C. Hirsbrunner, Hirsbrunner & Co. AG, for his
information on the Hirsbrunner patent of 1968, and John
Humphries for providing information on the Besson
"Enharmonic" piston valve systems.

Notes

1. The New Langwill Index
(1993, p. 437) quotes an unpublished communication from
Friedrich Ernst (d. 1977) that the firm was established by
Carl August Wunderlich (1882 - 1959) and that it flourished in
Siebenbrunn from 1854 to about 1945.(back)

3. The intonation problems associated with
valves used in combination were observed early in development
of valved brass instruments. In England D.J. Blaikley designed
"compensating piston" model cornets as early as 1874. In 1890
Besson (London) received British patent No. 6649 for its
"Victory Compensator Transpositor" model cornet. A simpler
version, identical in principle with the subject horn, but for
piston valves was patented in 1903 for Besson's line of
"Enharmonic" cornets. This raises the question of why later
patents for rotary valves such as that of Julius Heubach
discussed here, resorted first to complex systems of auxiliary
rotors and linkages, when double (concentric) rotary valves as
seen on the subject horn were already in use. (back)